New PPC/Linux PDA Reference Design From IBM

kinema writes "It looks like IBM has released a new Linux/PowerPC based PDA reference design called e-LAP ("embedded Linux application platform"). It features a PowerPC 405LP, 30MB SDRAM, 32MB NOR Flash, 64MB Disk-On-Chip Flash, 240 x 320 color LCD, Stereo speakers, Microphone, USB (both host and client ports), a 3000 gate Xilinx FPGA, SDIO slot and last but not least a TCPA security chip. I for one would love to see some good PowerPC based PDAs on the market."

lower power consumption

[ChristTrekker]

That's the most obvious one that comes to mind. That translates to longer battery life. If I had to pay a bit more money (and I'm not sure that your "more expensive" claim is true) in order to have more "on the go" time, it might be worth it.

The developer sled

[kwoo]

I am really looking forward to this unit, in part because of the developer sled. The ability to hack a handheld device is of utmost importance to me, as there are so many specialized uses for them. It is nice to see a unit with that sort of hacking convenience.

I also noticed that one of the host USB ports is disabled. Would that be for power saving, or is it a limitation of the chipset? If it's for power saving, would one be able to enable it when one has a use for it?

Apple PDA

[coolgeek]

Well, this should be enough to re-ignite the iWalk rumors again.

PowerPC + PDA == ?

[Anonymous Coward]

This PowerPC-based PDA is as close as we're going to come to an Apple handheld for a long time!

Re:crazy

[octover]

>For those who don't remember, they pretty much set the gold standard in the laptop industry, and we still live with the benefits today.

and now Apple is leading the pack with the Powerbooks. Now if only Steve Jobs would relent and give us an update to the Newton.

DOA

[bstadil]

IBM Semiconductor has no concept of supporting smaller volume makers, and the Bill of Material for this reference design will be more than $300.

Just look at the POP reference design [openppc.org] they made a few years back. Nobody I mean Nobody ever produced a single board. The fact that they used a virtual non existant Northbridge didn't help.

Nothing to see here Move On, or call IBM and try and get a quote for 500 pcs PowerPC if you doubt me.

Re:crazy

[ksheff]

They aren't getting into the PDA market. This is a reference design that other OEMs will license so they can jump into the PDA market. I'm sure IBM will be happy to sell them parts too.

The more devices that run linux, the better the chances of linux continuing on in the future. I don't think the use of linux in small devices such as this or a Tivo hurt its chances of being used elsewhere, like, an IBM mainframe.

Re:crazy

[Ami Ganguli]

The PowerPC is exactly the opposite, as anyone who has sat down at a recent G4 can tell you -- these things scream.

This is an embedded version. It shares design elements with your G4 processor, but it's not nearly the same thing.

Linux is specifically architectured for the server market

Nope, it was designed for Linus Torvald's desktop '386 - a machine that was considerably less powerful than this device. Since then a lot of work has gone into scaling it both up and down.

Re:lower power consumption

[Ctrl-Z]

Really? I would think that the most obvious answer is that PowerPC is an IBM product. If you're going to build a design spec, then you might as well make sure it lines your own pockets.

The fact that it has lower power consumption is a nice "public" explanation.

forget it

[Anonymous Coward]

vote with your wallet book. or at least tell IBM you would but it, if it did not have a TCPA chip in it. We have to show a strong opposition to these TCPA devices...

Linux handhelds

[kwoo]

Not only the Sharp Zaurus, but the Agenda VR3, the iPAQ running any of two or three different distros, and there are most likely more that I'm not aware of.

The point is that Linux isn't only good for larger devices, but can be made small enough for PDA use. uCLinux is a good example of an attempt to make it even smaller and use microcontrollers (which have no MMU), making it possible (but absurd overkill) to use Linux in a home digital thermostat or camera, for example.

Re:PowerPC Advantages?

[kwoo]

This is a typical artifact of RISC chips. Instructions are fixed size, and usually the same size as the general purpose registers. When you load from an immediate value (a value contained in the instruction), the instruction has insufficient room for a value as wide as the instruction itself after specifying the instruction, the destination operand, etc.

Thank you for clarifying that -- I seemed to remember it from doing some MIPS assembly years ago, but I wasn't sure.

On the whole, though, it's more of an oddidity than a real annoyance -- one just has to write a "load immediate" macro, and away you go.

Re:FPGA?

[TeknoHog]

Perhaps because it's a reference design, like a prototype?

Actually, probably better, I'd trade my Zaurus

[Hanno]

I own a Zaurus and I am not really that thrilled with it.

The Sharp Zaurus has several disadvantages that the IBM reference design appears to avoid.

First and foremost, the Zaurus uses a non-standard connector. I wasn't looking hard, but I doubt that I can buy the connector in a shop for electronics parts, and I consider that a major problem. It already was a problem for the Palm.

A simple serial or USB cable [serialio.com] costs a whopping 40 Dollars in the US and 50 Euros in Europe.

Then, the Zaurus features USB, but only as a device, not as a host. Oh, the thousands of possibilities that the Zaurus designers gave away with this design decision! If, oh, if only they had incluced full host support for USB! I for one would love to simply plug in a USB keyboard in my Zaurus and start typing. (I'm aware of the power consumption issues with USB host support. But that's a question of adding a battery, that's it.)

So, to use an external keyboard, I'd have to buy a 50 Euro serial cable and an expensive keyboard that uses RS232, which is also hard to find and hard to get from Europe.

Or, I can get an IRDA keyboard. Which practically doesn't exist. Well, there are two companies offering an IRDA keyboard, but one of them appears to be vaporware and the other one does not work well with the Zaurus.

Then, the Zaurus' use of an obscure ethernet-over-USB protocol gave me quite a headache. Both the Windows 98SE and the Linux desktop drivers used to crash frequently, with the Linux driver being close to unusable, at least on my machine. It seems to be working perfectly now with 2.4.20, but it was a royal pain with previous kernels. So to use my Zaurus, I had to install XP. Yay. Which still crashes now and then as a result of using the Zaurus cradle and sometimes hard-resets the desktop the moment I put the Zaurus in there.

Finally, the Zaurus' handwriting recognition stinks. I learned Graffiti in 15 minutes, I still haven't mastered the Zaurus input method for handwritten letters. In fact, I still keep my Palm for the "actual" calendar and address management and use the Zaurus mostly for games: The SCUMM virtual machine is my personal killer app. Right now, I'm playing Monkey Island 1 during the bus rides to my office and back.

The Zaurus was the first useful Linux PDA, but it has some serious design mistakes. The missing USB host is the main mistake in my opinion. Can't wait to see the IBM reference design catching market share.

Best part appears to be: Zaurus applications' source should be easily ported to the IBM platform. And the Zaurus collection of ported software is already impressive.

Re:crazy

[yog]

There are several PDAs today running Linux very well; the Sharp Zaurus is the best known, but a bunch of Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers are about to come out with a flood of Linux-based PDAs as well (see this article [linuxdevices.com] in the same mag as the feature). I suspect in about a year we'll see a lot of commodity PDAs based on Linux and featuring the usual color 320x240, MP3, SD slot, etc.

Linux is not specifically "architectured" for desktops or servers. If you strip away a lot of the modules, utilities and GUI fluff, it's a pretty small OS actually. Someone has a single floppy firewall distribution based on Linux. I mean, try getting Windows on a single floppy, not to mention Solaris, MacOS, etc.

Regarding why IBM would do this, I believe they're just poking Microsoft in the eye. IBM's always been the premier marketing organization despite their prodigious technical resources. So they spent a couple of million designing a "reference PDA"; that's a tiny drop in the bucket for them and it encourages lots of hungry manufacturers in Asia (and, one would like to hope, in the West as well) to jump on the Linux bandwagon and, hence, weaken PocketPC. Seems like a pretty smart and sane move to me. ;-)